"She said it was the only way to continue the experiment and help."
"She wants to create new life, and not just a child, she is ready to become the vessel. The perfect carrier. And she writes about it openly. She says she is willing to give up her body for the future…"
He fell silent. The paper trembled slightly in his hands.
Gideon swore under his breath. Bruno lowered his head.
Ethan slowly set the letter aside. His gaze dropped.
"She agreed to it herself," he said, almost emotionless.
"She wasn't a victim. She wanted this. She lay down on Gérard's table and asked to be killed."
"So she could calmly continue the experiment inside herself. Create… a new life."
He looked at the photograph where young Maria smiled happily between Gérard and Michael.
"I was really just cover."
The room became very quiet.
Flash cleared his throat and spoke. His voice sounded tired as he recounted what Laurent had said before he died.
"Basically, from everything I understood…"
"Laurent said Maria was playing both sides from the very beginning. She was interested in vampires long before she met Gérard."
"When she met Laurent, she asked him to help stage her death. She said she wanted to die for the whole world so she could quietly go to Gérard and continue her research."
"She was obsessed with eternal life. Not just vampire immortality. And now she's carrying something that isn't human, which means our goal is to kill the child."
Flash paused, then continued:
"According to Laurent, she decided on her own to help the Corvins and Gérard. She wanted to use her body as a vessel. To create a new being inside herself."
"The perfect carrier capable of containing enormous power. She was ready to sacrifice herself."
"Laurent said he had never seen a human being so happy about her own death."
Bruno swore quietly and turned away.
Gideon looked at Ethan with heavy concern.
"So all this time…" he began.
"All this time we thought she was the victim," Ethan finished for him. His voice was low, almost a growl.
"And she willingly lay down under the knife."
He clenched his fist. The black lines on his neck twitched faintly.
"She called me her love, said how much she loved me… and in reality… I was just the next stage of her experiment."
Ethan stood up sharply. The chair scraped loudly backward.
"I don't want to be part of this," he said quietly, rage simmering in his voice.
"And I don't want to be their dog."
Flash looked up at him from below. There was no judgment in his eyes, only heavy exhaustion and understanding.
"Then we need to find a way to break this connection," he said calmly.
"The key, the documents, the essence… none of this is on the table by accident."
"We'll figure it out, but you have to stay with us." Ethan nodded.
Finally Ethan slowly set the photograph aside and stood up.
"I need… to think," he said quietly, almost without emotion.
"I can't read any more of this right now. I'm going to lie down, at least for a couple of hours."
Gideon looked up:
"Ethan, maybe you shouldn't…"
But Flash gently shook his head, stopping him.
"Let him go. He really needs to rest."
Ethan nodded without looking at anyone. He picked up the black stake, pressed it to his side, and walked into the small bedroom at the end of the corridor. The door closed behind him with a soft click.
The room was dark and cold. Ethan sat on the edge of the narrow bed, still fully dressed. He placed the stake beside him, holding it close as if afraid to let it go.
For a while he simply sat staring at the wall. Then he lay heavily on his back and closed his eyes.
Sleep came almost instantly, heavy, thick, like black tar.
Bright, harsh white light from lamps. The cold metal of the table. The smell of antiseptic, ozone, and something sickly-sweet and rotting.
Maria lay on the table, naked from the waist up. Her belly was enormous, stretched to the limit, skin glistening with sweat. Her long dark hair was splayed across the metal.
Her face was wet, but she was smiling, that same blissful, almost insane smile Ethan had seen before.
Gérard stood beside her in a white lab coat. In his hands was a syringe filled with thick silvery-black liquid. He was speaking quietly to Maria, and she nodded, still smiling.
Then the birth began.
Maria arched her back and screamed, not in pain, but in ecstasy. Her body trembled. From her emerged something… not quite a child.
A small, dark creature covered in black mucus and thin silvery veins. It did not cry. The creature opened its eyes and looked straight at Ethan.
Maria gently took the creature in her arms. She kissed its wet forehead and whispered with infinite love:
"There you are… my boy."
Then she lifted her head and held the child out toward the shadows.
From the darkness stepped Michael.
Tall, calm, with a cold, satisfied smile. He accepted the creature from Maria's hands like a long-awaited, precious gift.
He looked at it with quiet triumph, then turned his gaze directly to Ethan.
"Thank you," he said softly and tenderly.
"You served well."
Maria laughed lightly, like a mother who had just given Ethan a miracle.
And in that moment Ethan understood with freezing clarity, it was him. This was the hybrid. Or what he was meant to become.
"Vaaah!" Ethan woke with a short, choked cry.
He sat up sharply on the bed, gasping for air. His entire body was covered in cold, sticky sweat.